Thursday, June 26, 2014

World Cup Notes

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the World Cup has been fun to watch.

Seriously, I'm not kidding. It's always been borderline unwatchable to me--sometimes entirely unwatchable--but there's significantly more scoring this year, and much more creative offensive attack. A team like Greece (who makes drying paint look like the Indy 500) is the exception this year, not the rule.

How different is it this time? Scoring is up almost 50% over 2010. Yes, that's only from two goals a game to three, but that makes a huge difference, believe it or not.

Also, in what must be the curious wager ever, after Uruguay striker Luis Suarez bit (yes, bit) an opponent during a game on Tuesday, it was revealed that certain bookmaking establishments in Europe had offered a prop bet on precisely this matter. It seems that Suarez has bitten players twice before, and the odds on this happening during the World Cup were booked at roughly 150-1. And 40+ people cashed that ticket.